Under the scheme, an SMS is sent to the male guardian (husband, father or brother) of any female Saudi citizen who leaves the country, informing him of her departure – though, notably, not of her onward destination. The reason behind the scheme was widely reported to be the case of a Saudi woman who “escaped” to Sweden and converted to Christianity.

The feeling of being “electronically tracked” by my husband – or of being on a “digital leash” – is one with which I can sympathise in a much smaller way, even in liberal Dubai: Our bank’s alerting service means that my husband, as the primary card holder, is able to trace my geographical and financial progress through the UAE each day via the text messages he receives telling him how much money I spend in each location.

It’s not unusual for me, in return, to receive messages from him saying things like “I thought you didn’t have time to go to Dubai Mall today?” or “While you’re in the area, can you pick up my dry-cleaning?” While it’s obviously incomparable to the situation in Saudi Arabia, it’s still unnerving to feel that my husband’s being informed of my movements around the city – and I can imagine how this system could be open to abuse under different circumstances.

But, back to Saudi Arabia. Women have long been banned from leaving the Kingdom without the written permission of their male guardian, so there’s nothing new there. Saudi publication Riyadh Bureaupoints out, too, that the text messages apply not just to women, but to any dependent leaving or entering the country, and that the SMS system has already been in place for two years, the only difference being that you used to have to subscribe to it whereas it’s now automatic.

As people furiously attacked the “sexist” and “repressive” scheme on social media platforms, a voice of reason stood out. Bayan Perazzo, a professor specialising in Middle East politics and Islamic Studies, pointed out that the key issue here is not with the e-tracking system itself but with Saudi Arabia’s guardianship system itself. This antiquated system requires every woman in the Kingdom to have a male guardian from whom they must get permission to make any “critical” decision about their lives, be it to study, work, marry or exit the country.

It is that, says Perazzo, not the government’s notification system, that robs women of their basic human rights – and it is towards the guardianship system, not the so-called “tracking”, that our outrage should be directed.

Annabel Kantaria is a journalist who moved to Dubai long before most people knew where it was. She doesn’t ride a camel to work; has never seen a gold-plated golf buggy and only rarely has pink champagne for breakfast. Follow her on Twitter: @BellaKay